Relating ZIP Codes and Census Tracts

.. what census tracts intersect with a ZIP code of interest? There are many reasons for the underlying the need to convert/equivalence ZIP codes to/from census tracts. Some organizations have to provide census tract codes for addresses/ZIP codes of clients to be in compliance with a law or regulation. Some organizations have addresses/ZIP codes of clients/locations for which they would like to determine the corresponding census tract codes to analyze census tract demographics. This post reviews tools and options for these operations. See related Web section to access interactive table and learn more about mapping and geospatially relating these two geographies.

Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ ZIP Code-Census Tract Relationship
The following graphic illustrates the relationship between ZIP code area 85258 (orange fill pattern) with census tracts (green boundaries and geocode labels).
(StCtyTract=04013216813).
.. view created with ProximityOne CV XE GIS software and related GIS project.

Create your own maps of areas relating ZIP codes and census tract, in context of other geography. Use the CV XE GIS with shapefiles.

Using the Interactive Table
Use the ZIP code to census tract interactive table (opens new page) to answer questions such as:
• Which census tracts intersect with a ZIP code of interest?
• Which ZIP code(s) intersect with census tract(s) of interest?
• What is the Census 2010 population for a census tract and ZIP code combination?

The interactive equivalence/look-up table shows a row for each unique combination of a Census 2010 ZIP code area and Census 2010 census tract. The start-up view is sorted on the State-County-Tract column (StCtyTract). View ZIP codes in one state using the State selection button. To locate a ZIP code of interest, either use the Find ZIP query or sort on the ZIP code column and then scroll down the table until the ZIP of interest is located.

Example. Click Find ZIP button using the interactive table (opens new page) to view only the tracts intersecting with ZIP code 85258 (as shown in map view above). The Location 1 marker (see pointer in map) is located in the area intersecting ZIP code 85258 and census tract 2168.13. The refreshed table view is shown by the graphic below. There are nine tracts intersecting with this ZIP code; see the tract codes in the table.

Try this for a ZIP of interest:
• View the interactive table (opens new page).
• Click the Showall button below table.
• Key in your 5-digit ZIP code in edit box where 85258 now shows.
• Click Find ZIP button.
• Table refreshes showing only tracts intersecting with this ZIP code.

Scope of Tracts and ZIPs in Table
There are 150,806 rows in the table, each showing a unique combination of a census tract (73,057 Census 2010 tracts) and ZIP code area (33,120 Census 2010 ZCTAs). Each row represents an intersection of the specified census tract and ZIP code area and corresponds to a geographic area of one census block or more. The total population and housing units values have been derived by summing component census block values. The sum of the population column is 308,745,538, the United States Census 2010 total population.

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About the Author
— Warren Glimpse is former senior Census Bureau statistician responsible for innovative data access and use operations. He is also the former associate director of the U.S. Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards for data access and use. He has more than 20 years of experience in the private sector developing data resources and tools for integration and analysis of geographic, demographic, economic and business data. Contact Warren. Join Warren on LinkedIn.